


When We Went from Strangers to This

by Aerica_Menai



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Ace!Laurent, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Coming Out, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Locked In, M/M, Sick Character, Sick!Laurent, Star Trek References, mentioned Ace!Spock, mentioned ace!Berenger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerica_Menai/pseuds/Aerica_Menai
Summary: Laurent is really sick, and decides to shut himself in his apartment and deal with it alone. His downstairs neighbor, Damen, gets worried enough to check on him, which went just fine - and then Damen got himself locked in. Featuring Star Trek TOS, coming outs both accidental and intentional, and Damen being his usual sunshine puppy self.
Relationships: Auguste & Laurent (Captive Prince), Damen & Makedon (Captive Prince), Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 69
Collections: Lock Down Fest





	When We Went from Strangers to This

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by a line from Paper Rings by Taylor Swift
> 
> Beta'd and cheerleaded by the absolutely amazing @grayraincurtain, as usual - what the heck would I do without you? <3
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and thank you to the Lock Down Fest mods - this fest is a brilliant idea, and I really appreciated the chance to write this cathartic fic :)

Laurent deVere could not believe that he had gotten sick one month and two weeks before Auguste’s wedding; he was best man, he could *not* be sick for the wedding. Auguste getting sick too was a very real and much worse possibility, so Laurent strictly forbade Auguste from being anywhere near him while he fought off whatever virus gave him this fever – he would hole up at his apartment, sweat it out and be fine in time for the wedding. Obviously.

Yes, he lived alone and yes, it would be a little hard to feed and take care of himself, but Laurent could muddle through it – he always did.

*~*

Damen Akielos was getting very, very worried about his upstairs neighbor. The ceiling was a little thinner in his apartment than most – it’s why his father’s friend, Makedon, had offered it to him at a discounted rent price – and Damen had to admit he had grown increasingly fond of his upstairs neighbor’s quiet sounds of life: pacing at all hours of the night, soothing music, foot tapping when his neighbor had to sit still (or so Damen imagined). However, the upstairs apartment had been dead silent for two whole days – and that *never* happened. 

So Damen checked in with Makedon, who waved him off with a grunt of, “He’s sick, that’s why he’s quiet. Leave him alone.”

Damen rubbed at his forehead. “Makedon, I haven’t heard *anything.* Whoever’s upstairs is not feeding themselves, and no one’s been by to feed them either. I would know, the tile in the kitchen makes a very distinctive noise when people step on it.”

And so Damen sweet-talked Makedon into giving him a key, to feed – Laurent, Makedon said his name was. Damen bought ingredients for his mother’s cure-all soup recipe, and quietly let himself into Laurent’s apartment. Best to get cooking.

*~*

Laurent woke up to the smell of something amazing originating somewhere in his apartment. He followed his nose to the kitchen – swearing that he was going to kill Auguste for doing this, no matter how good the food cooking probably was going to be – only to stop short when he got to his kitchen and someone who was *definitely* not Auguste was there instead. No, this person looked to be about eight feet tall and able to benchpress two of Laurent without breaking a sweat, not to mention much darker in complexion than his golden older brother. There was a very tall, dark and incredibly handsome intruder in his apartment. 

Despite imagining the aneurism Auguste would have if he ever learned about this, Laurent just wrapped his blanket tighter around his body and asked when the food would be ready. He must have looked even worse than he felt, because TDAH just scooped him up (Laurent would never admit to the very undignified sound he let out at feeling firsthand the easy strength in those arms) and gently placed him on the couch, tucking his blanket in around him and fussing that he needed to rest. So Laurent did.

He woke up to TDAH sipping soup in Auguste’s armchair, watching something on mute on the TV. Laurent sat up enough to see his own bowl of soup and guzzled it before falling back asleep.

*~*

Damen’s neighbor was surprisingly beautiful, even fever-bright and clearly out of it, but Damen had fed him and left a pot of ready-to-heat soup on his stove. Damen had earned his good karma, and it was time for him to leave and stop invading Laurent’s space.

Quietly, he crept up to the door and inserted the key. He was just starting to turn it as Laurent suddenly moaned into the coach, “Mooooore, pleeeeease.” 

And Damen’s gutter mind couldn’t help thinking a number of filthy things that made him quickly turn the key and grip the door handle too hard – so hard, in fact, that it broke off in his hand with a loud crack, part of the key still inside the handle and part of the key still embedded in the door. Damen was not going anywhere.

*~*

Laurent woke out of a very nice dream about getting a massage to see that TDAH had, in the process of apparently trying to leave, broken off the handle of his door. With only part of the key still left in the handle. TDAH was clearly nervous, babbling something far too fast for Laurent to even try and comprehend on fever brain, so he just raised a hand. “It’s fine, just – hope you enjoy sleeping on the couch. Hope you *fit* on my couch,” he added to himself as he left the room, crawling back into bed and falling asleep again. 

*~*

Damen was FREAKING OUT. No matter what Laurent said, Damen had invaded Laurent’s space without permission, and now he was stuck here, no way out and no one even knew he was here – except. Except Makedon. Damen scrambled for his phone to message him but just as he pulled it out of his pocket, it died. He really, really needed a new phone.

Tired, frustrated, and not willing to dig through Laurent’s apartment to see what he could do about finding a charging cord, Damen settled back into the couch and continued to watch the original Star Trek series – he had enjoyed all of the Star Trek movies that had come out in the 2000s, and he had always meant to watch the original series that had inspired them but had always had something else grabbing his attention on Netflix first. Laurent was a fan of the show, it seemed, as it was one of the shows on his “Continue Watching” list, so Damen had idly clicked it earlier. He had to admit that as cheesy as it was, he was really getting into it – he would have to start again from the beginning on his own account later. But for now he would just enjoy what was on the TV in front of him, and the cozy comfort of the couch behind him…

*~*

Damen woke up to Laurent poking him, still wrapped in the same blanket. “Fooooood.”

Damen got up and stretched (ignoring the noise Laurent made behind him). “Plenty more soup,” Damen yawned as he plodded into the kitchen, Laurent trailing behind. He heated up two bowls of soup and the two spent the afternoon and evening watching Star Trek between bouts of napping. 

At some point, Laurent woke up enough to ask *how* the hell Damen even got into his apartment that he definitely remembered locking and didn’t remember having any sort of extra key to. 

Damen explained that the landlord of the apartment complex, Makedon, was a friend of his family’s and so he was able to convince him to give him a spare key to this place. “You were so quiet, I – I got worried.” 

Laurent sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, you were right to worry,” he grumbled.

Damen smiled. “Then I’m glad I followed my gut! Even if it got me stuck in here invading your space,” he winced.

Laurent groaned. “Seriously, I already told you – it’s fine. Stop worrying about that. Worry about how you’re going to get *out* of here.” Laurent raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

Damen sighed. “Makedon obviously knows I’m here, and I did promise to return the key to him – “

Laurent perked up. “Good, he’ll come looking for you then.”

Damen shifted uneasily. “Well…he knew I was definitely interested in getting to know you, so – “

Laurent stiffened. “‘Getting to know me?’ Dare I ask?”

“N-no, not – not anything creepy, I just – “ Damen started stammering before taking a deep breath. “Look. Your apartment is right above mine, and the ceiling’s a little thinner than most in the complex. I can’t hear words or anything, but I can hear when you’re walking around, or music if you have it on loud enough – and I never saw you…what can I say, a guy gets curious,” Damen shrugged. “But I didn’t want to pry or invade your privacy any more than my ceiling forced me to, so I’ve mostly left you alone. After your apartment was so quiet for so many days…I got worried,” Damen rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Worried enough to break my own rules and invade your privacy.”

Laurent was still holding himself stiffly, Damen’s explanation clearly not calming him down like he was hoping it would, and Damen hunched his shoulders. “I –“ 

“No, stop talking,” Laurent snapped before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I – what do you mean by wanting to get to know me? Is this – is this some sort of weird trying to earn a date shit, coming in and cooking and showing me what a great guy you are – “

Damen just gaped as Laurent started ranting, the words angry but his body language clearly terrified, and finally snapped out of his daze, physically throwing himself against the back of the armchair (as far away from Laurent as possible) while interrupting, “No! No, no, I swear – I just wanted to meet you, and I didn’t want you starving to death, I swear, I – I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, and if I could leave right now, I would.”

Laurent just stared suspiciously at him, and Damen took a deep breath before standing up, carefully walking a large circle around Laurent and giving him plenty of space. “Alright, well, clearly you’re uncomfortable with my being here. Your apartment’s only on the second floor, I could probably jump down safely – “

“You will do no such thing!” Laurent suddenly blurted, and Damen froze.

“I – I don’t know what you want from me,” Damen responded helplessly. “You don’t want me here, I don’t want to be here if it upsets you – the worst I’d get is a twisted ankle, probably, and probably not even that – “

Laurent groaned. “Please, just…” He sighed. “No jumping out of my window please, just – sit down,” he grumbled, waiting until Damen cautiously did just that. “I…overreacted,” Laurent admitted grudgingly, “and I’m sorry. I’ve just…had some bad experiences before – “

Damen snorted, gesturing at Laurent. “Not surprised, with a face like that. People can be so awful sometimes.”

Laurent just blinked at him. “Yes, well…that is true. And I’m sorry for jumping to the conclusion that you were like them when you have been nothing but thoughtful while you were here.”

Damen just smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it.”

Laurent flushed a little. “Just…put Star Trek back on,” he muttered, sinking deeper into his blanket and turning to face the TV.

Damen did so, smiling broadly.

*~*

Laurent was…not used to men like Damen, to put it mildly. He had never met someone before who did things for him with no real ulterior motive, no attempts to seduce him or pry into his personal life, just…genuine care for his wellbeing. Specifically, no one outside of Auguste – and he assumed that his mother had been similarly caring, before her death. But no one else had ever just…taken care of him like this.

It was…nice. Really nice.

It almost gave him hope – maybe he could actually stay in touch with Damen, try to cultivate and maintain a friendship with him.

There was just the one thing that Damen didn’t know about him – that no one knew about him, not even Auguste.

Laurent had recently discovered that while he was definitely (very) gay, he was also…asexual. His few attempts at finding a boyfriend had been…frustrated by his “prudishness” or “frigidity,” as they called it – but Laurent had never had the proper words for it before now. It was a large part of the reason he had sworn off dating – definitely in the short term, possibly forever.

August was worried that Laurent didn’t have a plus one to his wedding, but…if there was anyone Laurent was going to be comfortable bringing, it would be Damen.

Maybe he would work up the courage to ask Damen sometime before he left.

*~*

A number of episodes and bowls of soup that Laurent could actually taste later, Amok Time had come on screen. 

As the episode progressed, Laurent enjoying it as he always did (as this was the episode that he felt most strongly proved Spock’s asexuality), he did notice out of the corner of his eye that Damen looked…distracted. 

At the end of the episode, after Spock’s obvious excitement at Jim’s survival, Damen finally spoke. “How do you think Kirk feels about Spock being asexual?”

Laurent choked on the mouthful of soup he was drinking. “I – wh-what?” he spluttered as he wiped at his face.

“You know, Spock and Kirk – they have some serious romantic tension, and I’m just wondering, since you’ve seen more of them than I have, how do you think Kirk would react to Spock telling him that he’s asexual? Because he definitely is, especially after seeing this episode.”

Laurent’s head was still spinning, which must have been why he replied as honestly as he did. “I like to think that Kirk would accept him for who he is, and still be interested in pursuing a relationship. Maybe Kirk’s even asexual himself – we’ve not seen him pursue anyone seriously beyond kissing; it’s entirely possible, they’re both in the same boat and will realize they’re even better suited than they had known.”

Damen made a considering noise. “I like that, actually. Not that asexual people have to pair up or anything, but that would be a great coincidence.”

Laurent snorted. “Have you ever actually seen an asexual person in a happy relationship with a allosexual?”

Damen raised an eyebrow. “I have, actually – my friend Berenger is asexual and in a very happy relationship with a man who is definitely not.”

Laurent couldn’t help himself; he leaned forward and eagerly asked, “And how did they meet?”

Damen grinned. “At a strip club, actually.”

Laurent flinched before slouching back into the couch. “Oh.” He should have known.

He continued to stare at – whatever episode was playing, ignoring Damen’s sudden stare.

“…Any particular reason you’re interested in where my friends got together?”

“Not one that I’m willing to tell you, no,” Laurent replied snarkily.

Damen huffed out a frustrated breath and groaned, “Then why did you ask?”

“Because!”

“Because why?”

“Just because!”

“I just wanna – “

“Because I’m ace, you jerk!” Laurent froze, horrified. “I – shit,” he whispered to himself.

He could hear Damen shifting in his seat. “I – I’m sorry,” Damen mumbled. “I didn’t mean to pry like that, and I’m sorry it led to you outing yourself before you felt comfortable – “ 

“Yeah, well,” Laurent spat out bitterly, before taking a deep breath. Damen may have instigated it, but it was Laurent himself who had said the words. And…at least Damen didn’t seem to be having a bad reaction. Maybe this wasn’t the world-ending occurrence it had felt like at first. 

“I…I only figured it out recently, and. There’s only me and my brother left in the family. I know I should tell him, but…I have no idea what he’s going to say,” Laurent confessed quietly. “He’s an ally and all, but so many people haven’t even heard of asexuality, and the misunderstandings can be…cruel. I don’t want to have to hear some of the awful things people type online come out of my brother’s mouth,” Laurent continued unhappily. “And especially with all the wedding planning going on…I don’t want to overburden him.”

Damen was silent for a few minutes. “I know sometime it’s easier to tell someone new, since it’s easier to cut them out of your life if they react badly…but still, I’m glad you trusted me enough to say it, and I’m sure that above all, your brother loves you and wants you to be happy. Even if he says something idiotic – which he may not – I’m sure he’ll get over himself and apologize quickly, especially if he’s really an ally like you said. It’ll be okay,” Damen grinned widely at him.

And facing that blinding smile and overpowering confidence, Laurent had to admit…it was hard to believe anything could go wrong. So he decided to take advantage of the sudden burst of confidence. “Damen, how would you feel about – “ he began to ask.

But his door crashing open interrupted him.

*~*

Damen whipped around at the noise to see – Makedon. The older man looked down at the destroyed door and the ripped-off doorknob on the floor and winced. “I’m so sorry, Laurent,” he apologized. “I’ll get right on fixing that and get this idiot out of your hair,” he continued, gesturing at Damen.

Damen winced, realizing that he had completely overstayed his welcome, and stood to leave with Makedon – but Laurent grabbed his wrist. “Wait, I – just a minute? Please?”

Makedon waggled his eyebrows at Damen out of Laurent’s sightline but promptly tromped out, carrying half of the broken door. 

Damen immediately turned to face Laurent. “Yes?”

Laurent flushed. “I – before Makedon came in, I was asking you a question.”

Damen smiled. “You were! What’s up?”

Laurent took a deep breath. “How would you feel about coming to my brother’s wedding as my plus one? I’ll probably end up talking to him about – you know, it, while I’m there, and it would help to have a friendly face, no matter how it goes,” he blurted out.

Damen’s smile gained a couple hundred watts. “Laurent! I’d be honored. Just let me know when, I’ll be there.”

Laurent couldn’t help smiling back. “I’ll text you the details – why don’t you give me your number?” he asked quickly, fumbling in the couch cushions for his phone. 

“Sounds good,” Damen muttered as he typed in his number. “There! My phone’s dead at the moment, but also if you need more soup or other supplies in the meantime, I’m just a text away,” he winked.

Laurent groaned. “That was bad and you know it.”

Damen smirked. “Maybe, but it’s true.”

*~*

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you looked at it), Laurent was fully recovered in the next couple days – and apparently still had soup to spare, so Damen didn’t have a reason to come by again after Laurent dove back into wedding preparations. 

But Damen did have Laurent’s number and an invite to said wedding, so he felt pretty good about the whole thing as he went to get his best suit dry-cleaned. 

His phone dinged as he left the building and he checked it, chuckling as he saw that Laurent had sent him another video. He had started the chain, sending Laurent a cat video and commenting that it reminded him of the blond; Laurent promptly sent back a ridiculous dog picture and said that it reminded him of Damen. The back-and-forth had only grown from there, but they were both getting some pretty adorable pictures and videos out of the deal. It seemed like it helped Laurent destress a bit from all the chaotic wedding prep, and Damen was always interested in adorable or ridiculous animal antics.

Their exchanges continued right up until the big day, when Damen gave Laurent a ride to the church. He could tell Laurent was nervous, so he tried to give him a pep talk. “You know – “ 

Laurent just held up a hand. “I’m fine, even if I don’t look it, and I swear if you and your sappiness make me cry before the wedding I will eviscerate you.”

Damen shut up for the rest of the ride; he knew when he was beaten.

*~*

Of course the wedding went off without a hitch, Laurent absolutely gorgeous in his tux and his brother incandescently happy at the altar. Damen did note that after all the main festivities were over – the cake was cut, the speeches were given, the first dances had been danced – Laurent quietly dragged Auguste away. Damen waited for the brothers to reappear, and when they did…Auguste still looked happy, so that was a good sign, but the somehow-even-paler shade of Laurent’s face had Damen worried, so he quickly walked over to where Laurent had propped himself up against the wall.

“Laurent? Is everything okay?”

Laurent gave a slightly hysterical-sounding giggle. “I – I’m fine? It turns out Auguste had guessed a couple months ago and was waiting for me to tell him on my own time? So – he’s already done his research and gotten me more pride gear for this month’s parade, and – everything’s actually really, really good,” Laurent finished wonderingly.

Damen grinned widely. “Laurent! That’s amazing!” He went in for a hug before Laurent suddenly grabbed his shoulders. 

“I mean, there is one thing that could make it better,” Laurent blurted.

“Yes?” Damen asked, a little confused with the sudden nervousness on Laurent’s face.

“I – can I kiss you?”

Damen thought his face was going to split open with how widely he was grinning. “Indeed you may.”

And while it wasn’t the best kiss, as neither of them could stop smiling, it was still wonderful. 

“I guess it’s probably time I come down and visit your apartment, since you’ve already spent so much time in mine,” Laurent teased.

“You’re welcome anytime,” Damen smiled back.


End file.
